|
|
||||||||||
|
J Am Coll Cardiol, 2003; 41:2130-2137, doi:10.1016/S0735-1097(03)00482-0 © 2003 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation |


* Human Genetics Division, Southampton University Medical School, Southampton, United Kingdom
Cardiothoracic Unit, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, United Kingdom
Atherosclerosis Research Unit, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Manuscript received November 1, 2002; revised manuscript received February 7, 2003, accepted March 20, 2003.
* Reprint requests and correspondence: Dr. Shu Ye, Human Genetics Division, Southampton University Medical School, Duthie Building (808), Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, United Kingdom.
Shu.Ye{at}soton.ac.uk
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
METHODS: In this study, we systematically screened the promoter and coding regions for sequence variants. All polymorphisms identified were analyzed in 1,240 individuals undergoing coronary angiography. Functional analyses of the polymorphisms were carried out with the use of report assays and electrophoretic mobility shift assays.
RESULTS: Six novel polymorphisms were identified. The 6A/6A genotype was associated with greater number of coronary arteries with significant stenosis (odds ratio [OR] 1.52, p = 0.008), whereas the 5A/5A and 5A/6A genotypes were associated with increased risk of MI (OR 2.02 and 1.78, p = 0.016 and 0.032, respectively). A stepwise logistic regression analysis with all polymorphisms taken into account showed that the effect of MI susceptibility was largely attributed to the 5A/6A polymorphism. In a stepwise logistic regression analysis with all haplotypes as independent variables, the most common haplotype (T-5A-A-A-G-A), and two rare haplotypes, all containing the 5A allele, were associated with MI susceptibility. Functional studies showed that the T-5A-A-A-G-A haplotype had a higher promoter activity in macrophages.
CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that the effect of MMP3 gene variation is attributable to the 5A/6A polymorphism and that individuals carrying the 6A/6A genotype may be predisposed to developing atherosclerotic plaques with significant stenosis, whereas those carrying the 5A allele may be predisposed to developing unstable plaques.
| ||||||||||||||
The amount of matrix proteins in atheromas is determined by the function of matrix protein synthesis over degradation, and the latter is catalyzed by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) (2,6). It has been shown that lipid-rich plaques express higher levels of MMPs than fibrotic plaques (7). Among the MMPs that are expressed in atheromas is MMP3 (also known as stromelysin), which has a broad substrate specificity and can activate other enzymes in the MMP family (8,9). Inactivating the MMP3 gene in apolipoprotein E (apoE) knockout mice increases the sizes of atherosclerotic plaques and the amounts of lesional matrix proteins (10). In humans, a naturally occurring sequence variant in the MMP3 gene promoter has been identified. This sequence variant arises from the insertion of an adenine nucleotide at position 1612 relative to the start of transcription, resulting in one allele having a run of five adenine nucleotides (5A) and the other having six adenine nucleotides (6A) (11). Our previous work indicated that the 5A allelic promoter has a higher transcriptional activity than the 6A allelic promoter (11). Several studies have shown that the 6A allele is associated with more rapid progression of coronary atherosclerosis (1214) and increased carotid intima-media thickness (1517), suggesting that matrix accumulation is enhanced in individuals carrying this transcriptionally less active allele of the MMP3 gene. In addition, a Japanese study showed that the transcriptionally more active 5A allele was over-represented in a group of patients with acute MI compared with healthy control subjects (18).
In this study, we investigated whether the 5A/6A polymorphism and/or other sequence variants in the MMP3 gene influenced the extent of atherosclerosis and risk of MI in patients with CAD. We scanned the promoter and coding regions of the MMP3 gene for sequence variants and analyzed the variants in a sample of 1,240 Caucasian individuals undergoing coronary angiography. We then performed in vitro experiments to assess the functional significance of the genetic variants.
| Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
2.3 kb), all 10 exons, and the intronexon junctions. The nature and location of sequence variants identified by bi-ddF were determined by DNA sequencing. The assays were performed on genomic DNA samples from 20 unrelated Caucasian individuals (10 with early-onset MI [<45 years] and 10 healthy subjects). This sample size (40 chromosomes) provided
90% power to detect polymorphisms with a minor-allele frequency of >5% (20), on the basis that genetic variants contributing to a common disease in a large proportion of patients are likely to be common in the population, and thus the principal target of this work was common sequence variants. Determination of genotypes. The subjects previously described were genotyped for the 1986 T>C, 1612 5A>6A, 1346 A>C, 709 A>C, 376 G>C, and +802 A>G polymorphisms. For each polymorphism, a sequence containing the polymorphic site was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the amplicon was digested with an appropriate restriction endonuclease, which specifically cleaved one of the two alleles. Because of the limited amounts of DNA samples available to us, some of the polymorphisms could not be genotyped for some of the subjects.
Reporter assays. The MMP3 gene promoter region (from 2309 bp to +54 bp relative to the transcriptional start site) was amplified by PCR. The amplicon was inserted into a promoterless vector (pGL3-Basic Vector, Promega, Southampton, United Kingdom) containing a firefly luciferase reporter gene. The resultant construct was mixed with a plasmid (pRL-TK, Promega) containing a renilla luciferase gene under the control of a thymidine kinase promoter and transfected into cultured macrophages by electroporation. The transfectants were cultured with or without 1 µmol/l phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate for 24 h. The cells were then lysed, and the activities of the firefly luciferase and renilla luciferase in the lysates were measured with the use of a Dual-Luciferase assay kit (Promega). The ratio of firefly luciferase level to renilla luciferase level was used as a measurement of the MMP3 gene promoter activity. At least four independent experiments in duplicates were carried out for each construct, and the mean values ± SEM are presented.
Electrophoretic mobility shift assays.
With the use of a method by Alksnis et al. (21), nuclear protein extracts were prepared from cultured macrophages differentiated from human monocytic U937 cells with 1 µmol/l phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and from cultured human monocytoid MonoMac-6 cells. For each polymorphism, two double-stranded 26-mer oligonucleotides corresponding to the two alleles were used as probes and labeled with [
32-P]-adenosine triphosphate. The labeled probes were incubated with the aforementioned nuclear protein extracts, followed by nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. Three independent experiments were carried out for each polymorphism.
Statistical analyses. The HWE program was used to test whether the observed genotype distributions deviated from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Linkage disequilibrium between the polymorphisms and the association metric D' were analyzed with the use of the ASSOCIATE program and according to Devlin and Risch (22). Haplotype frequencies (Table 2) were estimated using the Haplotyper program (23), which employs a bayesian algorithm. To assess the effects of the genetic variants, the MMP3 gene polymorphisms were first examined individually in relation to the number of coronary arteries with >50% stenosis by ordinal logistic regression analysis (Table 3) and in relation to the risk of MI by binary logistic regression analyses (Table 4). Subsequently, stepwise logistic regression analysis with all genotypes and haplotypes, or with all haplotypes but not genotypes, inputted as independent variables, was performed to investigate which polymorphism(s) and haplotype(s) accounted for the association with MI susceptibility (Table 5).
|
|
|
|
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
Association of MMP3 gene variation with risk of MI in CAD patients. We then tested the hypothesis that variation in the MMP3 gene could influence the risk of MI in CAD patients. Logistic regression analyses showed that in patients with >50% stenosis in at least one coronary artery, there was an association between the 1612 5A/6A polymorphism and risk of MI, with the 5A/5A genotype conferring a twofold increase in MI risk (p = 0.016) (Table 4). Individuals who were heterozygous for the 5A/6A polymorphism had an intermediate risk (OR 1.78, p = 0.032). The association between this polymorphism and MI risk remained significant after adjustment for classic risk factors. A similar trend was observed when male and female subjects were analyzed separately.
In addition, there were approaching statistically significant differences in MI risk between the genotypes for the 1986 T>C polymorphism, such that individuals with the T/T genotype had 1.67-fold higher risk of MI compared with those with the C/C genotype (p = 0.089 after adjustment for covariates), whereas heterozygous individuals had an intermediate risk (OR 1.57, p = 0.096). There was no statistically significant association between MI risk and the other polymorphisms in the MMP3 gene (Table 2).
Stepwise logistic regression analysis. To estimate which variants and haplotypes largely accounted for the association between the MMP3 gene and MI susceptibility, we performed a stepwise logistic regression analysis with all genotypes (based on individual polymorphisms) and haplotypes (based on combinations of the alleles of the polymorphisms) inputted as independent variables. In this analysis, only the 5A/6A polymorphism was significantly associated with MI risk and remained in the equation (Table 5). We then carried out a stepwise logistic regression with all haplotypes, but not genotypes, inputted as independent variables. In this analysis without genotype terms, three haplotypes were associated with MI risk and remained in the equation (Table 5). These haplotypesT-5A-A-A-G-A, T-5A-A-A-C-G, and C-5A-C-G-C-Gcontained the 5A allele at the 1612 site but either the major or minor allele at the other polymorphic sites.
Differences in transcriptional activity between haplotypes. Our previous work showed that the 5A allele had a higher promoter activity than the 6A allele (11). In this study, we carried out transient transfection experiments and reporter assays to investigate whether the difference in promoter activity remained when the other polymorphisms were taken into account. In these experiments, the T-5A-A-A-G-A haplotype (which was the most common haplotype and was associated with increased MI risk) consistently showed a higher promoter activity than the C-6A-C-G-C-G haplotype. This difference was detected consistently in two different macrophage cell lines (RAW264.7 and MALU) and became more pronounced when these cells were stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, a reagent that induces macrophage differentiation (Table 6).
|
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
In this study, we also showed that individuals with the 6A/6A genotype had a greater extent of coronary atherosclerosis, compared with individuals with other genotypes. This finding is consistent with the finding from several previous studies that the 6A/6A genotype is associated with more rapid progression of coronary atherosclerosis (1214) and with greater intima-media thickness (1517).
These findings support the notion that matrix accumulation in the arterial wall is enhanced in individuals carrying the transcriptionally less active 6A allele of the MMP3 gene, whereas matrix degradation and atherosclerotic plaque instability are increased in individuals carrying the transcriptionally more active 5A allele. It is likely that individuals carrying the 6A allele are predisposed to the development of fibrotic plaques, which characteristically cause higher grade stenosis, whereas those carrying the 5A allele are susceptible to the development of lipid-rich plaques, which are typically more prone to rupture, causing MI (3). For both the extent of coronary atherosclerosis and risk of MI, individuals who are heterozygous for the 5A/6A polymorphism have phenotypes similar to those carrying the 5A/5A genotype, suggesting that the effect of the 5A allele is dominant and that of the 6A allele is recessive.
It has been shown that atherosclerotic lesions are significantly smaller and contain significantly less collagen in apoE//MMP3+/+ mice than in apoE//MMP3/ mice (10). In addition, atherosclerotic lesions in apoE//MMP3+/+ mice have a higher content of lipids and macrophages than those lesions in apoE//MMP3/ mice (10). These findings suggest that atherosclerotic plaques in mice with an active MMP3 gene are the lipid-rich type, whereas those in mice lacking the active MMP3 gene are more fibrotic, which is consistent with the findings of the present study of variation in the MMP3 gene in humans.
Among the seven polymorphisms in the MMP3 gene, only the 5A/6A polymorphism was found to have significant effects on the extent of coronary atherosclerosis and MI risk, although the 1986 T>C polymorphism might also exert a moderate influence. We have previously shown that the 5A allelic promoter had a higher transcriptional activity than the 6A allelic promoter (11). The present study showed that this allelic difference in promoter activity remained when the newly identified polymorphisms were taken into account. The functional analyses of the 5A/6A polymorphism in the previous study were carried out in vascular smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts (11). Because the majority of MMP3 in atherosclerotic plaques is produced by macrophages (8,9), this cell type was chosen for the functional analyses in the present study. The results showed that the effect of the MMP3 gene polymorphism on promoter activity also exists in macrophages.
Previous work has shown that the a 26-bp sequence containing the 5A/6A polymorphic site interacted with a transcription factor that had a higher affinity with the 6A allele than the 5A allele (11,24). In the present study, we found that differential nuclear protein binding also occurred on the sequence containing the 1986 T>C polymorphic site, with a nuclear protein interacting more readily with the T allele. Because the two polymorphisms are in almost complete linkage disequilibrium, the differential binding of the nuclear protein to the 1986 T>C polymorphism might also contribute to the difference in promoter activity between the T-5A-A-A-G-A and C-6A-C-G-C-G haplotypes.
Conclusions. The data in this study indicate that variation in the MMP3 gene influences the extent of coronary atherosclerosis and risk of MI in patients with CAD. These influences are largely attributable to the 5A/6A polymorphism, with the 6A/6A genotype being associated with the extent of atherosclerosis and the 5A allele-containing genotypes being associated with the risk of MI. These findings suggest that the 5A/6A polymorphism may contribute to the patient-to-patient variability in atherosclerotic plaque composition (3,5).
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
J. V. Cockle, N. Gopichandran, J. J. Walker, M. I. Levene, and N. M. Orsi Matrix Metalloproteinases and Their Tissue Inhibitors in Preterm Perinatal Complications Reproductive Sciences, October 1, 2007; 14(7): 629 - 645. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
F. G. Spinale Myocardial Matrix Remodeling and the Matrix Metalloproteinases: Influence on Cardiac Form and Function Physiol Rev, October 1, 2007; 87(4): 1285 - 1342. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. J. White, S. J. Duffy, A. S. Walton, J. F. Ng, G. E. Rice, S. Mukherjee, J. A. Shaw, G. L. Jennings, A. M. Dart, and B. A. Kingwell Matrix metalloproteinase-3 and coronary remodelling: Implications for unstable coronary disease Cardiovasc Res, September 1, 2007; 75(4): 813 - 820. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. Barlic and P. M. Murphy Chemokine regulation of atherosclerosis J. Leukoc. Biol., August 1, 2007; 82(2): 226 - 236. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. G. Pearce, R. C. Laxton, A. C. Pereira, and S. Ye Haplotype Effects on Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 Gene Promoter Activity in Cancer Cells Mol. Cancer Res., March 1, 2007; 5(3): 221 - 227. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Abilleira, S. Bevan, and H. S Markus The role of genetic variants of matrix metalloproteinases in coronary and carotid atherosclerosis J. Med. Genet., December 1, 2006; 43(12): 897 - 901. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. T. Traurig, P. A. Permana, S. Nair, S. Kobes, C. Bogardus, and L. J. Baier Differential Expression of Matrix Metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3) in Preadipocytes/Stromal Vascular Cells From Nonobese Nondiabetic Versus Obese Nondiabetic Pima Indians Diabetes, November 1, 2006; 55(11): 3160 - 3165. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Ye Influence of matrix metalloproteinase genotype on cardiovascular disease susceptibility and outcome Cardiovasc Res, February 15, 2006; 69(3): 636 - 645. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. C. Newby and J. L. Johnson Genetic Strategies to Elucidate the Roles of Matrix Metalloproteinases in Atherosclerotic Plaque Growth and Stability Circ. Res., November 11, 2005; 97(10): 958 - 960. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. L. Johnson, S. J. George, A. C. Newby, and C. L. Jackson Divergent effects of matrix metalloproteinases 3, 7, 9, and 12 on atherosclerotic plaque stability in mouse brachiocephalic arteries PNAS, October 25, 2005; 102(43): 15575 - 15580. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Flex, E. Gaetani, P. Papaleo, G. Straface, A. S. Proia, G. Pecorini, P. Tondi, P. Pola, and R. Pola Proinflammatory Genetic Profiles in Subjects With History of Ischemic Stroke Stroke, October 1, 2004; 35(10): 2270 - 2275. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S L F Pender, P J P Croucher, S Mascheretti, J D Prothero, S A Fisher, T T MacDonald, S Schreiber, and S. Ye Transmission disequilibrium test of stromelysin-1 gene variation in relation to Crohn's disease J. Med. Genet., September 1, 2004; 41(9): e112 - e112. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. Blons, S. Gad, F. Zinzindohoue, I. Maniere, J. Beauregard, D. Tregouet, D. Brasnu, P. Beaune, O. Laccourreye, and P. Laurent-Puig Matrix Metalloproteinase 3 Polymorphism: A Predictive Factor of Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Clin. Cancer Res., April 15, 2004; 10(8): 2594 - 2599. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | SUBSCRIPTIONS | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | CARDIOSOURCE | SEARCH | HELP | FEEDBACK |